Retribution
by the missing x
Summary: AU. When they were children Tigeress was forced to kill Rudy West, in front of his son. He took a vow of revenge to find the orange and black assassin, but has never been able to fulfil it. But when newbie archer, Artemis, joins the team, she does everything in her power to stop anyone from finding out, especially Wally, about her past.
1. Prologue

**A/N: So I got this idea from reading a Mortal Instruments story and I thought it could fit so well with Young Justice and the characters already wonderfully made! This is like a crash test story, so if you don't like it I won't continue. **

**After all that jazz... Thanks for reading this and enjoy.**

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Prologue

* * *

_Retribution:_

_Punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act._

Retribution is a cause that lives to repay those who have lost. Acting to no one's wish nor command retribution floats aloof around our heads. Something that we think will make our lives better, something that will put blood on our hands. The Code of Hammurabi states, _'an eye for an eye.'_ But if we continued to live, or instinctually live, by the code _an eye for an eye would make the whole world blind._

* * *

_The man was tied to the chair, secured by a series of knots and chains that one could never escape from without training. The boy tied down in a smaller chair in the corner screaming all the rude and cruel words he knew at the man that had put them there and the blonde girl next to him that just stood there._

_"No!"_

_Tears leaking out of his emerald eyes. He continued to thrash against his bonds and try to get out to save his dad. Somehow, some way, he was going to do it. Noticing the frightened look the tiger girl was giving him- what was she scared about? He was the one who was going to lose everything. _

He turned in his sleep. His orange hair sticking to his forehead in a layer of sweat, riddled by worries and panic in his own mind. The sheets draped over the lower half of his body, the other half cascading down to the floor.

Dim moonlight shone through the window that had been uncovered since his arrival. The shadows of tree branches casting lines across the room, giving the impression of a caged animal- nowhere to go, no where to hide, no where to stay.

_"Tigeress." The buff man spoke, "Finish him."_

_The girl looked scared and unwilling. She looked at her commander and spoke, "Why? Can't you just leave him alone?"_

_"He knows too much, baby girl. We've got to take care of our own people. Do it." He growled. _

_His heart sunk, she was going to do it. She was actually going to do it. She couldn't be older than him, and she was a killer. An assassin. This is how it all starts, small crimes leading up to the big kill that appeared on the news and put them on the map._

_"But what has he done?"_

He moaned, not again. This nightmare plagued him in his sleep every time he drifted off into what should have been a peaceful sleep. He still, knowing the torment wasn't over yet, tossed and turned. Knocking over nearby ornaments and objects. The smashing sound resounded through the thin wall of the house, rebreaking possessions that had been destroyed earlier from the nightly plague.

The images flashed in his mind again, blinding him into giving into the memory once again, all over again. Calling to him to live it, live _in _it, remember the memory like his life depended on it.

_"I hate you!" He yelled from his corner, watching everything with a scared and angry eye. _

_"Shut up, kid." The man spoke. "Now, West. You know why we're here. I'll spare your son- but nothing will be spared on you. Tigeress. Do it."_

Tears were flowing down his face, not of his will but of his thoughts. This always happened. It was _normal _for him. It shouldn't be. The clock ticking on the wall dimmed for midnight. Sending his dream into overdrive. Clear snippets were making their way from their dormant state, erupting to for a whole reel of tape on repeat.

_"Do I have to?" She asked, nearly on the verge of hysterics, she didn't want to kill this man. He was just normal, he had a son. He was a nice dad- a good dad. _

_"Hurry up, or I'll kill the kid and your mother too." He threatened, and when he threatened it was never an empty promise. If it had to be, it would be. _

_"Just do it." Rudy West said softly, looking into her eyes. "I've had a good life, I only wish for my son to be safe."_

_She whimpered and shed a tear. "I am so, _so, _sorry."_

_The knife plunged in._

With a scream tearing it's way from his throat, the boy of sixteen shot up. Heavily breathing to get the air supply back into his lungs and relieving himself of the burning pain he felt in his chest. It was all a dream. Nothing more than a stupid nightmare. But it was so much more than a nightmare. It was a memory.

Something that had haunted him since he had been torn from his family at the age of ten. Something he didn't like to remember, but was forced to because his mind didn't like to accept that he wanted to forget about it.

He remembered the whole event vividly, there was no point trying to forget it because it was simply something that couldn't be forgotten. Something he had made a promise, a promise he fully intended to keep to the end. Nothing would stop him. When he had recreated the experiment it made his will to fulfil his promise that much more.

His mother had died in a car accident when he was still a toddler, and he only had pictures to remember her by. He was raised by a loving father, who worked tirelessly everyday to provide for the two of them. But when his father brought down a major underground plan to shift the powers of the country, people hired an assassin to finish him off. The office got a tip off and immediately called to warn their friend and worker, but it was already too late.

By the time the police arrived at the house it was deserted of assassins, just the cries of a ten-year-old boy who had lost the closest person to him. The events that followed were all a blur to him, he only knew that somehow in the mess of things he had ended up with his Aunt Iris and her husband Barry.

Now at sixteen he was the science nerd of Central City High, and class clown. Not that it was a bad thing, just listing some titles he held.

Swinging his legs of the bed and slowly making his way to the bathroom. Leaning over the sink and splashing his face with ice-cold water he breathed and leant back. He could still see her face- the killer's face.

Steel eyes and blonde hair, not an obvious mix- but that made the job that much more easy for him. But even after enlisting the help of Robin, the second best detective he knew and his best friend, he still had no clue to where she was- or who she may be. Tigeress had officially dropped off the radar, and had been gone for six years.

"Wally?" A kind voice drifted through, coming from his Aunt standing in the doorway, her robe wrapped around her for warmth. The West family hair framing her soft face, her green eyes slightly sunken in from waking up every night to comfort Wally.

"I'm fine, Aunt Iris. Just a nightmare, nothing to worry about." He comforted, giving her a small smile in the

"Honey, I always worry about you." She laughed, "Wally if you need to talk or anything, just ask… all right?"

"I know, I'll talk to you guys about it if it really starts to bug me." He said, walking back out and around to his room, flicking the light on as he entered.

"Wally," she muttered in a tone that couldn't be ignored, "This has gone on for far too long, aren't you at least a little worried?"

"It's the first day of school tomorrow, it'll just be the nerves. Nothing to worry about." He offered sitting on his chair opposite his aunt still in the doorway.

Iris sighed, no matter what Wally said she knew those nightmares were going to haunt him until he found peace over it. He may say he's over the incident, but it's clear to anyone that knows him, really knows him, that Wally was far from over what had happened. "Maybe with the extra stress you have with the Team isn't going to help, why do-"

"The Team is great!" He hurried, he didn't want to be taken off the Team. It was like being in a mini Justice League, going on missions with other heroes his age. "Aunt Iris, don't worry." Wally sighed, running a hand through his thick hair, "I'm fine."

She paused and looked him over for a second, "All right. But you need to be up early tomorrow, I don't want you late on your first day of school."

"You got it Aunt Iris, G'night." He smiled, and watched the lights flick off as she exited and shut the door gently behind her. The grin went off his face; _try get some sleep, Wall-man. _

* * *

The first day of school was average for the speedster; he had listened to his teacher drone on about setting new standards for the school, as they were no longer freshmen, but sophomores now. He had suffered through boring history, geometry, French lessons, only to be rewarded with the class that was gym. Something that he technically should excel in, but was forced to hold himself back- all for maintaining his prized double life.

In gym the jocks, or 'alpha squad' as they had dubbed themselves, picked on the easy targets, namely 'those who did not play sports', which-sadly- included Wally West.

The last hours of the day flew by, only increasingly slow after his water fountain incident. By the time the bell rang he walked as quickly as Wally could and speed out of the front door as soon as he was out of sight. If he sped home and to the cave me may be able to make it to their beach party they were having- without him, he might add.

"Aunt Iris, I'm heading to the cave." He shouted from his room, hearing the faint 'okay' from his aunt.

Changing into his swim trunks and balancing a mountain of objects he ran to the closest zeta tube he nearly tripped over numerous pebbles, cracks and tuffs of grass on the sidewalk.

"The Wall-man is here." He announced as he felt himself arrive at the destination, "Now let's get this party star-"

He tripped, sending the pile of beach equipment tumbling down. Crashing onto the floor. Following the beach ball with his eyes he grimaced slightly- Batman did not looked pleased.

"-ted."

"Wow. Wall-man." A new voice drawled, "What exactly are your powers?"

He got up quickly to inspect the newbie, obviously an archer. Blonde hair, blue-grey eyes, muscly, uniform showing a lot of midriff.

"Who's this?" He rebuffed, continuing to scrutinize the archer girl- who refused to wilt under the combined stares of the team.

She stepped forward, gripping her bow even tighter and smirked, "Artemis, your new teammate."

Green Arrow came forward and put a hand on her shoulder, "She's my new protégée."

"What happened to your old one?" He said, his friend had been replaced. By a girl. A blonde, green, frowning, harpy girl.

"Well for starters," Roy's voice spoke, apparently the archers were having a family reunion today. "He doesn't go by Speedy anymore, call me Red Arrow."

"Roy," Green Arrow said, shocked, "You look good."

"Replaceable." He shot back, narrowing the whites of his mask and flexing his muscles in his newly designed uniform, that made him look a _lot_ older than when he wore that hat and red suit.

"It wasn't like that, you went solo." He grimaced.

"Why waste time finding a sub, can she even use that thing?" He growled, shooting a dirty look towards the archer girl. Wally nodded.

"Yes, she can." She retorted, getting up in his face.

Wally listened to Red Arrow go on about rescuing the doctor from the League of Shadows, he even made a comment and had pounded fists with Robin. But there was something at the back of his mind that he had pushed back until it was completely ignore. Something about Artemis made him uneasy, the way she held herself, the way she spoke, and the way she talked. It couldn't be. I can't be, she's a hero _not _a villain- she wasn't Tigeress.

She just wasn't.

There was something that stopped him from asking, from accusing her of killing his dad. He should wait and observe first, don't act on impulse like usual- wait and then strike. But only if needed.

During the _very_ long mission he and the new archer had numerous spats throughout the night. Arguing about the smallest of things, and the littlest comment. She was so closed up, he could feel it in the mind link- she had something to hide and she knew she was hiding it.

He didn't understand why people held secrets, he kept a lot of his secrets in the open and openly talked about it. He knew Robin kept his identity a secret because it was so closely linked to Batman's, who was paranoid about his identity. Mostly because the connections his identity had, his enemies could target everyone and anyone close to them.

No one else had secrets he knew of, or major 'end of the world' secrets. He didn't think they should, they were teen heroes, not agents for the FBI. He also found they were a pain in the ass anyway, and only added to their already piled burden of not letting everyone down.

Arriving back home and saying goodnight to his aunt and uncle, he trudged up to his room and dropped down onto the bed. He brought up the covers over his still costumed figure and stared at the wall for a while, just thinking.

Feeling the pull of rem sleep calling to him he yawned and snuggled into the comforter, closing his eyes heavily to come face to face with the monster of his sleep.

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**A/N: So... what do you think? Let me know and hopefully I'll write up the story! **

**Thanks for reading and yeah. Thanks. :)**

**-The Missing X**


	2. Chapter 1

In the early hours of the morning Artemis stumbled home in her hero garb, still reeling from Red Arrow's threat- and yes it was a threat. No- they did not know each other, and yes, she considered the threat to be dangerous and real, as real as a flashing sign hanging in her brain with a warning sign and 'THREAT' in big bold letters.

So by the time she gets to her place she's exhausted, annoyed and conflicted.

"How was the mission, Artemis?" Paula Crock asked when she heard the front door open, signalling the return of her youngest child. Artemis stormed in with a look of shock and misery on her face. Paula didn't think it was that bad, surely it went fine, right?

"Fine." She gritted out through her teeth, unwilling to lie to her mother about some things.

"What happened?" Paula asked, knowing that everything wasn't 'fine' as she claimed it to be. "And don't you dare say nothing, because you look like hell." The older lady snapped, eyeing the look on her daughter's face.

"Thanks, mum. I'm sure every girl wants to be told that by her own mother." Artemis spat out, her heart not in the small insult. Paula just gave Artemis a look of warning and narrowed her eyes at her.

Artemis crumbled; she slumped onto the couch and hung her head. Out of exhaustion, pain, frustration and most of all, guilt. Her mind was having a one sided argument about whether she should spill the beans to her mum, if she did there would be a chance she would get the 'I am so disappointed in you' look, or she would be fine and nothing would change between them.

"You remember when you went to prison? And when you came back dad wouldn't tell you anything about what we had done." She started, looking down at her clasped hands. "Jade left, you know that, she ran away when I was nine. But then when I was ten dad brought me along to one of his _jobs_."

The audible gasp could be heard, and the blonde pushed it further back into her mind, willing herself not to look up at her mother's face, for she knew there would be anger, hurt, confusion, betrayal.

"The man had a kid." She chocked, unable to keep the tears out as she had done for the past five years, "Oh god mum, I _killed _someone and their kid had to watch."

Her sobs rattled her body, her lungs shaking against her rib cage and she didn't even notice the strong pair of arms wrapped around her like a blanket. It brought back memories, when they were a happy family, it wasn't perfect- it never was- but it was their family.

Her tears flowed harder, like a waterfall that had been silenced for millions of years and had just been pulled free. Paula rubbed circles delicately on her back and arms, her heart shattering from the pain and guilt Artemis had been holding for all these years, and it was times like these that she wished she hadn't taken the fall, that Lawrence had done it and she would be free to go.

Artemis knew her mum was waiting for the rest of the details so she continued as she hiccupped through her words, "He's in the team." She gasped out, "The kid that watched me kill his dad, he's in the team. Mum, what am I supposed to do? He could find out, they could all find out." Artemis sobbed; her mind conflicted about the next plan of action.

"Then don't tell them…yet." Paula said soothingly, "Wait until you know that telling them is for the better."

"Mum, I saw Jade." She said, pulling away from the embrace and holding her mum with arm's distance and immediately her look changed from mother of steel to a hopeful, sad and confused look. "She's with the Shadows." Artemis said before her mum could get any false hope, which would be the worst thing to do to her at this point in time.

"She's what?" Paula said angrily, nostrils flaring and her grip notably tightening on Artemis, who had been taught to tolerate pain, but still internally winced at the tight grip her mother had kept for all those years locked up in prison.

"Cheshire, that's what she's going by now. I- we intercepted her on the mission. She was sent to assassinate the person we were protecting. I-I wasn't sure it was her at first, her voice was muffled by the mask and then when I chased her out onto the street I knocked her mask off and it was her. _Jade._ She left to join the shadows." Artemis hissed out the last past, getting over her tears and putting on a hard look.

When truthfully, she didn't know how to fell about her sister. She didn't know whether to hate her, shout at her, cry about her, love her or just ignore her. It was a weird relationship they had, if you could call it one.

She was sure her sister wasn't out to get her as she seemed to be, but then again, Jade was always the mysterious one, the one that her dad compared her to, it was her fault she was dragged into the life at an early age, and it was because of her she got out of it soon after.

Paula just stared at her with mourning, as if she had lost a child, "Go to bed, Artemis." She said, smoothing out her ponytail, "You look tired."

"Okay." She whispers back, giving her mum one last hug before pushing herself up off the couch and towards her room. Falling to the bed with a sad sigh, she wiped the last of her tears with the blankets cocooned around her.

The only thought going through her head, _What have I done?_

...

"Argh!"

A scream rips from his throat violently as he pushes himself up into a sitting position. Deep breaths are taken as he tries to calm his heart beat, he already knew that Uncle Barry was away on a mission and Aunt Iris would be staying late at the office, so there was no one there to comfort him.

He buried his face back into the pillow and screamed. They had just been introduced to their newest member of the Team, Artemis. A blonde, annoying, harpy, archer, who happened to be niece of Green Arrow. Seriously how many people in his family had the ability to use arrows?

At least she wasn't called Blond Arrow or something, unlike Roy who chose the name Red Arrow. _Seriously _original. But honestly when he saw Roy come in it was like being slapped in the face by family. He had left them, abandoned them and gone off to do his own thing. Desperately trying to prove to the League and to Green Arrow that he was strong on his own, and now that he is better than any replacement that he could find.

Pressing the contact he had been searching to find on his phone he pressed the device to his ear. Five rings later the recipient on the other end picked up, "What do you want, Wally?"

"Hey, I thought you were busy, but okay- since your not I just need someone to talk to. Uncle B's on a mission with the League, and Aunt Iris is still at the office." He chuckled awkwardly.

"You had the nightmare again?"

"Yeah." Wally sighed dejectedly, getting up and moving to the corner of the room that held his supply of his energy bars. "I just fell like it's trying to tell me something, ya know? Something's going to happen… something big."

"And if it were trying to tell you something big for the past years of your life you've definitely missed the signs." Robin said through the phone. Wally could hear the rushing of wind, so he presumed Dick was playing in his playground again. But he couldn't move the though from his head, he knew something had happened, the dreams were becoming more vivid, more imaginative, every time it ends with that tiger girl killing his dad a different way.

"It's not just that, it's also the new girl and Roy. There's a connection. I just don't know how to find it."

"It's called paranoia." Robin sighed, "Look- Batman is telling me to get back to patrol. I've got to go, but if it really bothers you then I'll have a look into her past. No guarantee that there's anything to find."

"Thanks, Dick, and why did you answer this phone if you were on patrol with man-bat?" He asked with a mouth full of food, crumbs slaying all over his face.

"Names, this is my Robin phone. Geez, if you keep letting it slip out I'm going to have to wipe it from your mind. But I knew you would call, you _always _call. What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't pick up?" The bird cackled on the other end before hanging up. Leaving a slightly more relaxed and worried, he had his friend backing him and slightly more worried about his mind and when the bird could strike.

And he can't help but go over the details of the evening once again. New girl- Artemis- he hated her. Mission- went pretty well for what the Team were known for. And Roy was now a stuck up Arrowhead, who pranced around Star City (way to get away from Speedy) and went by Red Arrow now. _Not _original.

And then there was Robin's comment to their new member, _"Another niece?"_

It wasn't just a playful comment, he would know. Robin and he had spent years as best friends, and as much as Dick would hate to admit it Wally really knew him, not the hero, not the ward to Bruce Wayne that the public sees, he knows Richard Grayson.

So what did he mean by 'another niece'?

Thinking of their exploration in the Tower of Fake, he remembered the charming man he had met. Kent Nelson, probably knew Jay Garrick while he was the Flash. Kent Nelson, he decided was someone that he would have liked, if he hadn't left this Earth. But the words lingered with him, _'Find your own little spitfire, one that won't let you get away with nothing. Like…'_

Who did Kent mean? The only other person he had met was Artemis, and that was so out of the question. It wasn't even something to joke about, and after he had been pulled to a stairwell dimension with her he decided that yes, she was out to ruin his life.

But he noticed insecurity in her eyes; something that had been locked up for years was resurfacing. And he'd rather be tied up to a pole and battle the winds before he admitted that he was worrying about Artemis. Apart from her family, who could? She was harsh, mean, cold, sarcastic, annoying and most of all intolerable.

Putting all the rampant thoughts in his mind to rest counted laps around the world, and dozed off into a dark sleep.

...

Robin was typing, it was currently seven in the morning and he was due to be up at breakfast in half an hour, he was searching through all of Batman's files; all of his database had been narrowed down to Gotham documents, which proved his theory. Artemis was not Green Arrow's niece.

Fingers flying across the keyboard he searched for Artemis, any encryptions of the name or aliases she could have had. He knew Batman knew about her secret identity, how could he not, but he also knew that if she didn't want to tell them she had something to hide.

Not that he did- he was under orders from Batman, but Green Arrow had never had a problem with Roy telling everyone who he was. Something was fishy- not taking an aim at Kaldur. But he knew from the moment she was introduced as the niece something wasn't right.

Batman called it 'gut feeling', whilst he called it brainy intuition.

Three.

He had bypassed the newest security updates.

Two.

The file was being unencrypted.

One.

Loading…

There.

He widened his eyes, and his mouth went slack.

There was no way that it was possible.

No way in hell.

Then a ghostly presence was felt behind him, and he cringed. Turning around to face Batman, with no cowl. Bruce didn't look very happy, in fact, he looked extremely pissed. Giving Dick the glare that could make criminals run to their parents he turned the computer off, knowing that Robin had read everything on the file.

"Robin." Dick flinched on the inside. "What are you doing?"

Looking around pointedly and smiling lightly, "Research on the newbie."

"And _what_ did you find?"

"Eh, something here, something there, a little bit of everything. But tell me Bruce, why the hell did you invite a killer on the team?" He shouted, his face contorted into a 'are you kidding me' look. "And what's worse is that you know that she killed Wally's dad. _Wally's_ dad. The same guy who had been having nightmares about the incident since it happened."

"Artemis had been trained by her father since birth- that makes her an asset. She has spent three weeks cleaning up around the northern border of Gotham. She is the vigilante we have had no luck tracking down, and her past actions will not define her now. Do you understand?" Batman said, his voice unwavering to the bypasser's ears, but to Robin he could literally hear the plea uttered in there. _Please, don't tell him._

"I understand."

_You so owe me_.

"Good. Alfred has cookies upstairs for you, you know- if you want it." Bruce smiled, moulding himself into the father figure he had to portray for his young ward. Dick just laughed, not a Robin cackle, but a childish laugh that echoed around the massive cave, and ran up the stairs into the manor.

Bruce just smiled after him, shaking his head and turning to the cave to undo what had been done to his beloved computer.

...

**A/N: Here is the first official chapter of the story! Review what you think and thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favourited, followed and read this. I really do appreciate it, and the next chapter will be hitting the site in two weeks :)**

**-The Missing X**


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